|
The
earliest Chinese that Our Untold Stories can trace back to arriving
in Gloucestershire came in the late 1950s. The majority of them
were in their 20s when they first arrived in UK, and nearly all
of them already had some relatives living elsewhere in this country,
running catering businesses.
Most
of them arrived here without any knowledge about this country or
skills, and unable to speak English so language was a major problem
for them. If they were ill, they used Chinese herbal medicines they
had brought with them, or when they did have a day off, they would
go to London to get Chinese medicines.
Unable
to speak the language, they spent most of their time working in
the kitchen, some of them sleeping above the kitchen and we were
told that some of them even slept in the kitchen.
Racial
abuse
In
the early days they suffered a lot of racial abuse especially those
who had direct contact with the English. Racial problems have not
been getting any better even after the Stephen Lawrence case.
The
main obstacle for the Chinese was communication, eg seeing doctors,
buying daily food, and getting around. They had little or no involvement
in the British way of life.
In
the last few years cable TV has enabled them to watch Hong Kong
news daily, Chinese soaps and entertainment programmes.
Today's new immigrants have not changed much. Perhaps they are
better educated than 30 or 40 years ago, but the new arrivals
still keep themselves to themselves, and integrating fully into
British society still seems as far away as ever.  |
| Our
Untold Stories |
Today's
new immigrants have not changed much. Perhaps they are better educated
than 30 or 40 years ago, but the new arrivals still keep themselves
to themselves, and integrating fully into British society still
seems as far away as ever.
For
the second and third generations who are born in this country most
of them do not wish to go into the catering business, because they
have better education than their parents and their ancestors.
Many
of them go into higher education and hold senior and professional
jobs. In the survey for Our Untold Stories, we found that many of
them go back to Hong Kong, Singapore, and East Asia.
Very
few of those who are born in the UK can write Chinese, but the majority
of them can speak Cantonese or Mandarin.
In
our survey, none of those whose parents are in mixed marriages,
can speak or write Chinese at all, and for these families to preserve
Chinese culture and tradition seems to be an impossible task.
|
